Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” are attracting a record number of punters back to the cinemas in the U.K. and India.
In the U.K. the Vue cinema chain said that it witnessed its biggest weekend in four years and second biggest weekend in history by admissions, with “Barbie” on track to become the biggest film of 2023, ahead of “Super Mario Bros.”
Vue saw more than a fifth of its customers booking tickets to see both films. Over 2,000 sessions sold out for “Barbie,” delivering the largest ever opening weekend for an original, non-franchise film for the U.K. and Ireland market box office.
“Barbie” grossed $22.9 million in the U.K. and Ireland over the weekend, per Box Office Mojo.
Tim Richards, CEO and founder of Vue International said: “Vue saw its highest weekend admissions since ‘Avengers: Endgame’ in 2019 with the release of ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer,’ proving that when the movies are there, our customers will come to watch them on the big screen. ‘Barbie’ is tracking to become the biggest film of 2023 and has a good chance of getting into the top 10 highest grossing films of all time. It is an incredibly exciting moment for the industry, and we expect this trend to continue for the coming weeks.”
It was a similar story in India with booking service BookMyShow reporting 1.4 million tickets booked for “Oppenheimer” so far, with the platform contributing 74% to the overall box office revenue collection for the film. “Oppenheimer” grossed $7 million over the weekend in India, according to Box Office Mojo. The film courted controversy by quoting text from the Hindu scripture “Bhagavad Gita” during a sex scene, but that evidently has not hampered box office collections.
More than 500,000 tickets have been sold for “Barbie,” with BookMyShow contributing 70% of the revenue, which is $2.2 million, according to industry estimates.
Ashish Saksena, COO, cinemas, BookMyShow, said: “With ‘Oppenheimer’ and ‘Barbie’ finally releasing across screens nationwide, it’s been a clash of the titans at the box office with both films exhibiting sheer cinematic brilliance and fans flocking to theatres for the big screen extravaganza.”
